Business Notes TAXES

Are the new, expanded W-4 forms causing any problems for taxpayers? "My God, yes!" moans Marcia Coppertino, who heads a tax-preparing firm in Inglewood, Calif. "I've even had lawyers call me because they couldn't understand it." The new W-4, which was designed to help taxpayers accurately calculate their withholding level under the new tax law, is producing an epidemic of headaches. Last week Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, joined puzzled taxpayers in trashing the four-page W-4, which is twice as long as the old one. In a letter to Lawrence Gibbs, the Internal Revenue Service commissioner, Bentsen asked the IRS to consider making the W-4 optional or substituting a shorter form. But the agency says it has no plans to do so, because 100 million of the W-4s have already been sent to employers.